Cassville tax revenues up 16 percent compared to last May

County numbers down for the month, still ahead for year

Sales tax revenue in the bi-county area continues to show strange trends.

In April, receipts to towns, compared in a year ago, rose 23 percent for Barry County and in May, Barry County fell by 1 percent, comparing the same taxes.

The seven Barry County cities with sales tax income received $452,062.07, a 1 percent drop comparing the same taxes as last year, not counting the Monett transportation tax. Every city except for Monett and Wheaton showed gains.

Cassville’s 1 percent tax produced $70,206.71, up $9,639.74, or 16 percent, from last May. Seligman’s 1 percent tax yielded $9,371.17, a gain of $1,728.71, or 23 percent. Exeter’s 1 percent tax for general bills generated $2,141.40, the second time this year topping $2,000, for a gain of $195.30. Washburn’s 1 percent tax yielded $1,446.42, a gain of $503.79. Washburn’s two half percent taxes had a combined revenue drop of $36.12.

Wheaton’s 1 percent tax, while in line with its half percent tax mathematically for only the second time this year, represented a 37 percent drop. The general fund tax produced $1,706.79, down $1,017.83.

Monett continues to provide a pivot for how Barry County shapes up. Monett’s two taxes for the general fund, totaling 1 percent, generated $123,901.12, down $20,433.60, over 8 percent, from a year ago after a $55,362.71 jump in April. It was the fourth highest May tally on record, though behind 2016, 2011 and 2014 in that order.

Two months into the new fiscal year, Monett’s general fund sum has risen to $313,341.33, up 12 percent from last year’s pace. The 2017 tally of $804,100.88 is up by 8 percent.

Purdy’s 1 percent sales tax for the general fund produced $6,240.64 in May, up $607.25 from a year ago, beating 2016 numbers for the first time in three months. Up only five times in the last 11 months, Purdy’s fiscal year tally for paying general bills is presently at $53,417.57, down 19 percent from the previous year. The 2017 sum, in contrast, is up by $807.76.

Barry County’s two half percent taxes each produced more than $142,506, a drop of more than $5,718 each. It was the second time in five months the Barry County tallies have dropped, leaving a gain of more than 5 percent on the year.

The sales tax supporting the 911 system in Barry County produced $106,863.41 in May, down $3,731.41 from a year ago. That brought the 2017 tally to $616,533.64, up by more than $30,000 or 5 percent from last year’s pace.